The Romance of Dance
by amieken
Summary: Cute little LilyJames oneshot, where Lily explains the romance of dancing to James. I think we all know what that will lead to!


AN: Hello all. I'm sorry that I haven't updated anything in a long time. I've been away for so long, that I now read my stories and wonder what exzctly I was thinking, but I'm trying to work on it all. In the meantime, this cute little plot snuck into my head, and I just wanted to share it with the world. Enjoy!

By the way, I own nothing of Harry Potter. It all comes from the great mind of J.K. Rowling.

The Gryffindor common room had slowly emptied leaving only Lily Evans and James Potter sitting on the couch. Since they had become friends near the beginning of the school year it was not uncommon for them to stay up a little longer than every one else, talking, laughing, and enjoying the quiet after everyone was gone. The only light left in the room was the fire directly in front of the couch they rested on.

"So what _is _so romantic about dancing anyways?" James asked Lily. The two had been discussing James latest date, who had insisted on dancing after dinner because it was 'oh so romantic'.

"What do you mean what's so romantic about dancing?" Lily replied, surprised by the question. "I would think that you, James Potter, ladies man extraordinaire, would already know."

"What? Just because I know what girls want doesn't mean that I understand them," James said smirking. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Oh please James! Just think about it for a second!"

"I am thinking!" he huffed, folding his arms, and trying to pout, though he wasn't very successful because of the laughter that kept breaking out.

Lily rolled her eyes again, then stood up and held out her hand to James. "Come on," Lily said impatiently.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" James asked in mock wariness.

Lily smiled, punched his shoulder, though not nearly as hard as she would have a year ago, and grabbed his arm, pulling James off of the couch. She pulled out her wand, and flicked it. Soft music floated into the room from an unknown source.

"Why Lily, if you wanted a romantic evening, all you had to do was ask," James teased. Lily's cheeks turned a nice red color.

"Potter, I'm trying to help you crack the mystery of dancing. It would help if you stopped making dumb comments," Lily replied loftily, putting her wand away.

"Oh," James said, not sure how to reply. Secretly he had been hoping she was finally making some moves on him. You can't love someone forever with out harboring some impossible hopes. Lily took James' left hand with her right, and put her left hand on his shoulder. James wasn't exactly sure how this would help him solve the mystery of why girls thought dancing was so romantic, but he looped his right arm around Lily's waist drawing her as close as he could without making her mad. He might as well take advantage of the situation while he could. They slowly started dancing in circles around the floor in between the couch and the fire.

"So, I want you to think about this really hard James, though I'll admit, I sometimes suspect that you have an awfully hard time thinking at all, let alone thinking _hard_, but just try for a moment. Why in the world would any girl think that this is romantic?" Lily was smiling innocently at James, her face just inches away from his, and honestly, just having her this near was making it even harder for James to think straight. After a few moments of trying to work it out in his head he replied.

"I suppose it has something to do with being so close to each other, or, um . . . you know . . . something." Lily's smile grew as she laughed quietly to herself.

"Exactly," Lily said quietly. She moved the tiniest bit closer so that they were dancing cheek to cheek. Whispering in his ear she told him, "Here we are, in each other's arms, and you're not trying to hit on me, or snog me senseless, instead you're just being the 'cute' you. The you that sometimes emerges to charm the socks off any girl who takes your fancy. There's a magic in the air when you're so close to someone else, and the music is weaving it's spell. You can look up into the other person's face and see the love that somehow always manages to make it's way to their eyes in a situation like this. It's just . . . very intimate, almost like a kiss."

Lily pulled back to look into James' face and saw exactly what she had just been describing to him in his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat, and without thought she moved just the tiniest bit closer to him. Before either one knew what had happened their lips had met in a kiss that sent tingles up and down their spines. James wrapped both of his arms around Lily, pulling her closer to him, while Lily wound her arms around his neck, going up on tiptoe, pulling him into her. Their kiss seemed to last forever, but all too soon they parted needing oxygen. Lily took a step back, feeling the need for a little space to figure things out.

Neither could find the courage to look into each other's face for several minutes. They just stood there, awkwardly looking at opposite corners of the room. James couldn't believe what had just happened. He never would have guessed that he would ever have kissed Lily, though it had been one of his deepest desires for years. After all, they had just become friends of a sort a few months ago.

For her part, Lily wasn't sure why she had kissed James, but she knew that it was one of the best kisses she'd ever had in her life. It wasn't even that James was the best kisser in the world, although he was a good kisser. There was something else in that kiss. Something she wasn't sure she wanted to understand just yet. She glanced up at James, only to find him looking at her. She quickly looked away again, cheeks burning, wondering what would happen next.

"I . . . you . . . I mean . . . "Lily couldn't seem to figure out what she wanted to say, and when James stepped over to her, she lost all thoughts, except the half of her that wanted to kiss him again, and the other half of her that wanted to run.

"Lily," James murmured, "I . . . what was that?"

"What?" Lily asked, not comprehending what James was asking.

"The thing with us . . . and the dancing . . . and the kiss . . . " James said, slowly taking her right hand into his hands and bringing them up to chest level.

"I, uh, I'm not sure what it was," Lily replied, mesmerized by the feeling of his hands holding her hand. James led Lily back over to the couch and the two of them sat down.

"I mean, was that a one time thing, or . . . you know," James asked, holding out the hope that perhaps Lily had feelings for him that he had never known about.

"I don't know," Lily said, finally looking him in the eye again. "I, I think that it may be something that gets repeated. Maybe." Lily smiled a small smile.

"Maybe?" James asked, hesitant to scare Lily off, but needing to know more.

"Ok, not maybe," Lily said, just before leaning in to kiss him again. She scooted over until she was sitting on his lap, her hands running through his hair. She had wondered for some time if it was as soft as it looked. James just held on to Lily, afraid that at any second she would change her mind, or that he would wake to find it was all just a dream. This time when they parted Lily smiled at James.

"Goodnight," she cooed, before sliding off his lap and heading to the girls dormitory.

"Night," he echoed, staring after her in disbelief. This had to be a dream. Lily was never like this in real life.

Lily woke the next morning with a smile on her face. Last night had been one of the best nights of her life. She sat up and looked at the clock. It read 7:30, which meant Lily had some extra time before breakfast would be served. She climbed out of bed and carefully selected her robe for the day. Even though all her robes looked pretty much the same, this one just seemed more comfortable and nice than the others. After showering and changing into her robes, she took extra care with her hair and make-up to look nice, but not "made-up".

"Well, don't you just look nice this morning," Lily heard from across the room. She turned to see her best friend, Katrina sitting up in bed.

"What? I don't look nice every day?" Lily asked, pretending to be offended.

"Well don't be silly," Trina replied, rolling her eyes. "Of course you look nice every day. But today . . . So, who's the boy?"

"What do you mean who's the boy? Does there have to be a boy in order to look nice?" Lily almost wanted to keep last night a secret. What if it hadn't meant as much to James as it had to her?

"Lily, I know you better than that. You have two types of dressed up. One is to make someone jealous, and one is to turn someone on. This is _definitely_ to get someone's attention. So I ask again, who's the boy?"

"You have to promise you won't laugh." Lily said.

"I promise. It can't be that bad!" Trina climbed out of bed and stretched.

"Well, as you know, I well kinda became friends with Potter earlier this year-"

"Yeah, but what does that- It's him isn't it! You're in love with James Potter!" Trina squealed excitedly.

"Shh! Keep it down!" Lily moved over to Trina's bed and sat down, pulling Trina down with her. "Last night we were talking, and I was trying to explain why dancing is so romantic, because the dolt just couldn't understand it. And well, to help explain we started dancing, and we . . . well . . . we kissed." Trina clapped her hands and giggled.

"It's about time! You've been in love with him for practically forever!"

"Not forever!" Lily cried out. "I mean, I couldn't stand him before this year."

"And why do you think that is?" Trina pointedly asked.

"I . . . because James was an arrogant git who couldn't give any one the time of day with out pulling some dumb prank on them." Lily replied, folding her arms in protest of Trina's thoughts.

"And because he pulled a bad prank on you and hurt your feel goods." Trina finished up for Lily.

"Ok, so I have liked him for some time. But at least I didn't make a fool of myself over him like some girls," Lily said, surreptitiously looking over at Tina's empty bed.

"And I'm very proud of you for behaving," Trina said, giving Lily a hug. "So, are you official yet?"

"Official?" Lily asked wrinkling her nose.

"Yeah. You know, a couple and all." Trina replied.

"Oh, well . . . I don't know. I mean, we didn't talk about that last night." Lily muttered.

"Girl! What were you thinking. You better go find that boy, right now!" Trina took Lily and marched her to the door. "And I don't want to see you back here until you have found out one way or the other. After all, I have to know whether I should party, or beat someone's head in."

James wasn't sure what to expect this morning. He hadn't told anyone about what had happened last night – not even Sirius. He couldn't bear to have any of them knowing if it had all just been a dream or a temporary loss of sanity on Lily's part. The other boys seemed to know something was up though. Maybe he should have tried to join in their conversation more, but he just didn't feel like it. He had hurried to get ready this morning, afraid that he would somehow miss Lily, and the opportunity to talk about what had happened the night before.

Sitting in the great hall now, he felt that his hurry had not been worth it. He'd been sitting here nearly a half hour already and the girl of his dreams had yet to show up for breakfast.

"Oy, Prongs!" James jumped at the sound of Sirius' voice.

"What?" he replied, trying, and failing, to act like he wasn't fazed in the slightest.

"We're heading to transfiguration. You coming with us?"

"Nah. I think I'm going to stay here a little longer." James' hand ran through his mop of black hair, as it always did when he was nervous.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Alright. Tell Evans 'hi' for me." He smirked, walking off after Remus and Peter. James shook his head, and then clenched his hands behind his head with his elbows on the table. Honestly, Lily was going to be the death of him one day, one way or another.

"Something wrong James?" If Sirius' voice had been surprising, this one was heart stopping. James had really hoped to be doing something brilliant, or at least normal looking when Lily came by.

"Good morning, Lily," he said quickly, jerking his head up. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, noting her lovely appearance this morning. She always looked good, but today there was something extra special about her, or maybe it was just the shine in her eye, showing that she remembered what had happened last night as well.

"Like a baby. How about you?"

"I . . . uh, I slept fine, I guess, once I remembered to get off the couch and go to bed," he said, smiling at the blush that was creeping into Lily's face. "I keep wondering if last night was just a dream, or an aberration, or . . . something. I was almost afraid you'd decided it was a mistake and were going to try and avoid me this morning. You aren't usually this late for breakfast."

"Oh, yeah," Lily blushed even more. "I just, you know, needed to make sure I looked good. After all, It's not every day I get a new boyfriend . . . I mean . . . if you want to be my boyfriend . . . or you know . . . oh dear, I really didn't mean to for it to come out that way."

"You want me to be your boyfriend?" James was amazed. He had thought that it was even less likely that Lily would actually want some sort of relationship with him than that she would kiss him.

"I . . ." Lily looked at the pure wonder on James face, wondering how she could have ever made him believe that such a thing could never happen. Hadn't he guessed that she had liked him for a while now. Why did he think they had become friends? "Honestly James, you don't think I just going around kissing anybody, do you?" She said, sliding her hand onto his knee under the table.

"No, of course not!" he insisted, putting his arm around her waist. "But you did say once that you would rather date the giant squid. I think part of me had given up hope that we could ever be."

"Oh, James." Lily shook her head slightly before leaning forward to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "I am entitled to change my mind you know."

"Oh, I know. And boy am I glad that you did," James replied before kissing Lily again, a little longer.


End file.
